Ask the Plant Doctor – March 2012

Each month V.D. Kaviraj answers questions about plants and plant problems. Kaviraj is one of the foremost pioneers of Agro-homeopathy and author of the book, Homeopathy for Farm and Garden.

The completely revised and enlarged edition with an additional 176 pages is now available:

Send your questions! (with pictures when possible – JPG or GIF format) to [email protected] with the subject “Plant Doctor”.

Note: When I refer to treating plants with homeopathic remedies, this is the standard dosing procedure: Put 20 drops of a 6X potency in a litre of water. Succuss the bottle 50 times. Put this litre in the watering can,fill it up with 19 litres of tap water and stir. If the watering can is smaller, the amount of remedy put in must be proportionally smaller. Thus a 10 litre can needs only ½ litre and just 10 drops of the remedy. Apply the contents of the watering can to the roots of the plants to be treated. –V.D. Kaviraj

Dear Dr Kaviraj,

Every year our apple trees here in Melbourne are attacked by codling moth grubs which eat out the insides of the apples. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks,

Julie

Hi Julie,

Codling moth in apples can be easily countered. The remedy Thuja will keep them out of the apples. Thuja is for “animal poisoning” and one could easily say that codling moth is just that!

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Hello Doctor Kaviraj

It’s great to write to you and profit from your useful guidance.I have a Money Tree (Pachira aquatica) . I live in Montreal, Canada.I studied also Homeopathy and I and my husband are interested in Agro-Homeopathy. Please advise what we can do for this plant.You can find attached the pictures.Suddenly stopped growing up; the leaves are almost yellowish.

Thank you

Zoreh

Hi Zoreh,

First it looks like your plant could do with a much bigger pot. Transplant with fresh good earth. Then give the plant a dose of Silicea, after about 1 week in the new pot. You will see it do much better after that.

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Dear Kaviraj,

Here in San Diego we have a problem with the white garden snail (Theba pisana). It’s creating havoc in our garden. Is there a holistic solution that won’t involve chemicals?

Thank you

Helena Adamou

Hi Helena.

Sure we have a solution for that snail problem. It is called Helix tosta and is made from a predator snail. Water the roots of your plants and the snails and slugs will no longer touch them.

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Dear Kaviraj,

Last year the peaches on our trees developed soft brown spots which got powdery later on, and then the fruit rotted. We’ve identified this as something called brown rot. Is there a homeopathic or other natural solution to this?

Thank you

Jack Gorodetzer

Hi Jack,

There are several options for brown rot. Manganum aceticum is one. The disease may be caused by a lack of manganese. Molybdenum is another element that may be deficient and Molybdenum as a remedy can also help. Allium cepa can also do it, when there are no nutrient deficiencies.

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Hello Dr. Kaviraj,

I received your book as a present and I have been reading it. Not being familiar with the terminology I wondered if you could clear up some confusion on my part. When you describe a disease, there is a section called Relationship. Below that is “Compare” which I presume is the remedy for the problem. Is that correct?

Also the two terms Antidote to: and Antidoted by is not understood as it seems that it is the same thing.

One more thing that I would like to ask. Is there a remedy for too high of a ph. My well water has high alkalinity and when I water any plants in pots I must use a strong acid to negate the alkalinity.

Thank you,

David Bauer

Hi David,

“Compare” is when there are other remedies with similar symptoms which may be better indicated. After all, comparisons are done between things. Here the comparison is other remedies with the remedy just described, and at which end we speak about its relations to other remedies, if any or, if known.

Regarding “ antidote to” and “antidoted by” : It is not the same thing. One can be in a car accident and hit another car – that is damage “to”. Then a 3rd car hits yours, now you have damage “by”. The just described remedy is doing the antidoting, and does that to another, while the one that would neutralise the just described remedy, sits on the other end of the spectrum.

Regarding too high PH: The best remedy to neutralise an alkaline soil is to use an acidic manure. Pig and chicken are the best for the purpose. If you regularly add more of these manures on the soil, it will be about neutral in 3-4 years. If you let the worms do the work, it takes a few weeks to remove a layer of 20cm of old manure from the surface. So if every few weeks you put another layer of old manure, it will go very fast. Naturally, the remedy Calcium carbonicum, being the closest similar, will also work wonders.